On March 17, 2012, Fr. Raul Cortes will celebrate his golden anniversary – 50 years as a Catholic priest.
But Fr. Raul doesn’t want us to honor him for his years of service… he wants us to honor someone else.
You see, Fr. Raul has a dream: that Catholic education be available to every child, regardless of economic status.
Because of Fr. Raul, that dream has become reality at one little school in the San Fernando Valley. At St. Catherine of Siena School, we have opened our doors to all children in the community, even if they can’t pay the full tuition. (You can read more about the school’s story here.) And if it happens here, it can happen anywhere.
It may sound like a new idea, but it’s probably really old… going back to the times when the good sisters taught all our children, rich and poor. Or maybe all the way to Christ himself, when he told his disciples not to keep the children from coming to him.
For Fr. Raul, the dream is about building our church, about forming new Catholics who will replace him and us. It’s about lowering the barriers that keep our children from knowing the love of Christ and sharing it with the world. It’s about realizing there is a bigger family than my family and your family.
At St. Catherine’s, each parent is sacrificing what he and she can so that their kids can have a wonderful spiritual education in Christ. But they can’t sacrifice what they don’t have.
That’s why we are creating the St. Catherine of Siena Circle of Friends. So that you too can share in the joy and the sacrifice at our little school.
This circle of friends is not just about financial giving. Want to keep following the story of our school and how it’s changing Catholic education? Great! Want to offer your time or talents? Great! Want to let others know about what’s going on here? Great!
You can honor Fr. Raul by honoring these kids, and making all our dreams come true. Feel free to check out the other pages here and learn more about Fr. Raul, our school, and the Circle of Friends.
